Construction minister and RICS fellow Mark Prisk says government cut-backs will lead to reduced fees

The construction minister Mark Prisk has told the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors that they will receive 鈥渟maller fees鈥� from government as part of Whitehall鈥檚 cost-cutting drive.

In a speech last night to the Institution - of which Prisk is a member - he said that government procurement would squeeze suppliers.
He said, 鈥淭here will be slightly smaller fees for my learned friends, and that鈥檚 no bad thing.鈥�

Prisk argued that the cuts to capital spending had not been as savage as predicted.

He said, 鈥淭here will be key investment in infrastructure - not as much as many would like to see but not as little as many feared.鈥�

Robert Peto, President of the RICS, welcomed the government鈥檚 relative protection of transport spending but attacked VAT charges on refurbishing unused homes.

He said, 鈥淥n the housing side, it [the spending review] was not good news. We are not building for the future. If we鈥檙e not spending money on new houses then you have to bring unused houses into use - and you won鈥檛 do that if you have to pay 20% on refurbishing homes.鈥�

Peto also promoted Prisk from a member to a fellow of the RICS.

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